When Twitter was first drafted by Jack Dorsey in March of 2006, he envisioned an individual using a Short Message Service, i.e. SMS (or text messaging), for communicating to a large group of people. Even with the proliferation of smart phones, individuals may find it easier to communicate with Twitter using their current SMS technology. Continuing our Twitter 101 series, we are going to demonstrate how to enable and use SMS technology in order to interact with Twitter. Please be aware that their might be a cost for using your SMS service. Please contact your mobile provider for further information. … Continue Reading

After some spring cleaning, and a fresh coat of paint, Twitter has introduced a new design. The design has tremendously simplified the user interface by consolidating many of the features into sections titled “@ Connect” and “# Discover”. They also added modal boxes, to give users the ability to quickly browse other tweeter’s timelines without leaving their own timeline. Continuing our Twitter 101 series, we would like to introduce you to several of the new changes. Hopefully this will help as you use Twitter in your day-to-day life. Let us begin with Twitter’s video introduction to the new site: … Continue Reading

I decided to take a detour from the Twitter Series, and talk briefly about the power of technology. Specifically, the power of the mobile device in the humanitarian efforts across the globe. I ran across the following TED presentation, and I think it demonstrates a very strong argument for the need to embrace technology in our ministries. My favorite quote from the video states, “We are hurtling towards a hyper-connected world, where citizens from all cultures and all social strata will have access to smart, fast, mobile devices.” Watch the video, and please comment on how your ministry will embrace technology in order to engage this new hyper-connected world. … Continue Reading

Continuing our series on Twitter, today we will look at some of the great features Twitter provides to help us find the information we need. Even though searching can seem like a simple task, Twitter has added some great features to improve your searching results. Let us begin by doing a search for the word “technology”. Log into Twitter, and type the word “technology” in the search box at the top of the page. … Continue Reading

List – Curated groups of other tweeters. Used to tie specific individuals into a group on your Twitter account.

As you begin following tweeters on Twitter, there may come a time when you will feel overwhelmed with the sheer number of tweets you handle in a day. You may also find yourself wanting to get a little more organized. Twitter provides a tool that will help you organize your tweets into lists that better describe the type of tweets you receive. So if you are keeping up with the latest technology firms, maybe you can move the tweeters into a list titled “Cutting Edge Tech”. One of the great benefits of a list, is that you do not have to follow the tweeters in your list. So you can move some of the tweeters that you currently follow into a list, and stop following them. If you do this, then you can view the tweets from these tweeters in the list, but your home timeline will not display their tweets. This can substantially slim down your home timeline, and make it more manageable. So today, I will walk you through the process of creating lists, and adding tweeters to that list. Let us begin!

Sometimes when you tweet, you might finding yourself wishing to share a neighborhood, city, or even exact coordinates with the tweet. Here are some tweets that can be enhanced if we can tag a location to them.

Check out the work God is doing in this city?

Come visit our new church building?

Bring your donations on Sunday to this location?

These are great tweets, but how much better would they be if you can see the actual location the tweets are talking about. … Continue Reading

direct mes·sage – a private message sent via Twitter to one of your followers (aka. DM and Message)

Sometimes on Twitter you may find yourself wanting to communicate privately with other tweeters. Twitter provides a feature called direct messaging for this type of communication. Direct messaging is also known as DM, and messaging. There are several restrictions on direct messaging that you should know about. The main restriction to direct messaging is that you can only direct message a follower. … Continue Reading

Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing the many tools that you have available when posting a tweet on Twitter. Today, we will look at ways to add spice to your tweets, by showing you how to add links, images, and videos to your tweet. Using multimedia can add a depth to your tweets that your followers can appreciate. You can tweet your videos that share your vision, links to articles that emphasis the importance of the work you’re doing, and/or photos of the country that you have a heart for. Like the old adage says, “A picture is worth a thousand words“. On Twitter, a thousands words is even more powerful when your limited to 140 characters.

re·plies – a tweet posted as a reply to another tweeter’s tweet.re·tweet (noun) – a tweet by another tweeter and forwarded to you by someone you follow.re·tweet (verb) – the act of forwarding another tweeter’s tweet to all your followers.

Sharing is caring!

If this statement is true, then we live in a very caring society. Sharing has become integral in our digital lives. We share articles, videos, and other media on our favorite social media platforms, through email, through video, and even texting. Many blogs, including this one, provide tools to make it easier to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Many websites also have their own built-in sharing tools, so you can share media to those who follow you. So it should not be a surprise that Twitter offers several tools for sharing as well. … Continue Reading

men·tion – mention another user in your tweet, by using a @ followed by the Twitter username. (@MissioDigio)hash·tag – add keywords or topics to your tweet, by adding a # followed by the topic with no spaces. (#MyAwesomeHashtag)

In the last article, we learned how to write a tweet on Twitter. Even though it may not seem like it, the tweet has several powerful features that can make it even more engaging. In the next few post, I want to dissect the tweet, and explain in more detail these features. These features include mentioning, hashtags, direct messaging, and many others. Today, we will focus on mentioning another user in your tweet, and adding a topic or keyword to your tweet. Let us begin! … Continue Reading